National Weather Service working to determine if tornado touched down in Huntsville

Huntsville Utilities crews work to repair power lines in the area of Whitesburg Drive and Lily Flagg Road after storms on Thursday, April 11, 2013. (Nicole Emmett | nemmett@al.com)

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Crews with the National Weather Service are working to determine if a tornado or straight-line winds were the cause of damage to several locations in south Huntsville during yesterday's storms.

"Once we finish the assessment out in the field this afternoon, we'll go back to the office and map them out, geolocate all the damage, look at the radar one more time and then make a final assessment,"Chris Darden, meteorologist in charge with the National Weather Service said.

Darden said factors in the assessment include how wide or narrow the storm's path was, the location of damages, the level of damages and specifics such as which way branches snapped off trees.

Darden said the worst of the damage from what he called a relatively "weak" storm Thursday was damage to a home on Valley View Drive, and several power poles down in the area of Whitesburg Drive and Lily Flagg Road.